The group soon arrived at an old village called Mapple. They headed to the centre of the village and checked into a hotel to rest while waiting for night-time to come.
Alicia, having fallen asleep immediately in her bed for hours since the moment she checked into her room, was startled when she finally woke up and noticed that the sun was already setting. She had slept as though she had been so tired, almost similarly to her just coming home from a few days of going through a long and exhausting battle. It bothered her greatly that she berated herself quite harshly as she rose and speedily washed up and prepared herself to leave her room.
After some looking about, she found her comrades already gathered and sitting around a large table at the hotel's terrace. Gracefully, Alicia navigated herself towards the only empty chair next to Zeres.
"Did you have a good rest?" Zeres asked and Alicia nodded frankly. She could not quite accept that she, a queen, had actually overslept in a situation like this. She was not here for vacation, for heaven's sake! None of them were. However, embarrassing as it may be, she would not lie to justify saving her face – thus the reason she just nodded instead of coming up with some explanations to save her face.
"Okay, let's eat!" Zeres' cheerful voice echoed, breaking the awkward silence. He knew that Alicia had been sleeping all day and knowing her, he knew that she was criticizing herself to no end right now. Alicia was the fourth witch queen he had met in his lifetime, so he knew that like all the other three queens he had met before her, Alicia too, had that same ego and pride the other witch queens have. They never wanted to show their weakness or appear weak to anyone, even when they were in the direst of situations. They would fight fiercely, with their heads held up proudly, even in the most hopeless situation. Because they hated powerlessness to their bones to the point that they would prefer welcoming death than being reduced to someone weak, helpless and useless. It seemed as that was one of the main qualities a witch should possess in order to be chosen as queen. A great quality a queen should have but… Zeres thought was also a dangerous one.
The proof of that was Alicia's mood right now. She already looked angry at herself just by oversleeping. How much more would she react if…
Zeres' attention was back on Alicia when he heard her drawing in a long deep breath. And what he saw made him relax as well because the queen's expression became much better, and it seemed her anger towards herself was gone. Looks like she managed to clear her mind and calm her thoughts. Zeres doubted for a moment but when she started to eat animatedly, he thought that maybe, Alicia wasn't as hard toward herself as those previous queens were on themselves.
By the time they were almost done with dinner, Alicia finally diverted her attention from the food and looked at her comrades. Her eyes landed first on the boy whom she had yet to hear speak and next was the red-haired man seated right opposite her. Her curious eyes lingered on these two beings she had wanted to talk to since she saw them last night when they were gathered at the airstrip. However, the timing was not quite right, and they needed to move with haste, consequently resulting in her holding off her curiosity. Now is the time, if not ever.
When the two raised their eyes to meet her questioning look, Alicia straightened. "So? Why are the crown prince and the youngest prince of the vampires along with their strongest and most elite bodyguard here with us? Don't tell me they came so they could help us search for a crystal cavern." Alicia's brow was slightly raised. There was no way these vampires were here just for that reason. These few individuals were too high-profile to tag along just for some simple reasoning like searching for crystal caverns.
"That's right." Zeke suddenly answered before any words could leave Zeres' mouth.
Alicia smirked, pressing her temples as her elbow rested on the table. "It seemed you finally learned how to kid now, Ezekiel."
"I'm not kidding, Alicia."
Her smirk faded and her gaze became serious as she stared at Zeke. Her eyes demanding for an explanation.
"I still don't know if it's a coincidence, but we are also here to look for a certain crystal cavern. Our reasoning has nothing to do with the witches." Zeke explained, causing Alicia's brows to knot.
"And what reason is that if you don't mind me asking?"
Zeke picked his glass of blood and twirled it gracefully before drinking it. His gaze then settled to Alicia before he answered. "I'm afraid I can't tell you anything yet right now. Because unfortunately, the cavern we're looking for is also something prophesized."
'Prophecy. That thing again.' Alicia thought to herself and she could only sigh, knowing that she could not pry too much into it any longer much less it causes more animosity and unwanted disagreements within the group. She was still having some doubts she would like cleared before going on the search, but she also knew that it was not her place to interfere on this topic any more than she already had. Especially when he had clearly stated that it has nothing to do with the witches and it was related to the prophecy. And if that was truly prophesized, Alicia could only wait and see. For she knew that Ezekiel would never reveal anything and as things go, she also knew that prophecies coming from the vampires only meant one thing and one thing only – it spelled trouble – a very serious trouble that could cause unimaginable chaos.
After their dinner, the group finally left the hotel and continued with their journey to the first destination Ezekiel had identified where a huge crystal cavern was claimed to be situated. It was located in a mountainous area a few miles north of Mapple Village, so the group travelled there through the darkness.
